Italian Seismologists found guilty

Yesterday, six Italian Seismologists and a governmental official were found guilty of manslaughter, facing up to 6 years in prison for failing to adequately warn residents of the possible severity of the L’Aquila quake. This is troubling for so very many reasons, not the first of which is that it is nearly impossible to tell when a quake is going to strike with absolute certainty, and the fact that failing to do so has landed these scientists potential prison time, in a country whose sentencing guidelines are very different from those of the United States. Many groups have blogged and written stories about this story already, so I will link here to those, and allow you to come to your own conclusions about this horrific tragedy.